Ghost Rider #4-5 : SuperMegaMonkey : chronocomic

1973-08-01 00:01:15
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1973 / Box 7 / EiC: Roy Thomas
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Marvel Spotlight #13

Issue(s): Ghost Rider #4, Ghost Rider #5
Cover Date: Feb-Apr 74
Title: "Death stalks the demolition derby" / "And Vegas writhes in flame!"
Credits:
Gary Friedrich - Writer (issue #4)
Doug Moench - Script (issue #5)
Marv Wolfman - Plot (issue #5)
Jim Mooney - Penciler
Vincent Colletta / Jim Mooney - Inker

Review/plot:
After being chased by the police until morning (they've got a secret weapon for chasing guys on motorcycles: a dune buggy)...

...Johnny Blaze surrenders to them due to the fact that he's reverting to his human form, in which he is badly injured.

A corrupt stunt promoter named Dude Jensen gets Blaze's charges dropped in return for Johnny's agreement to work for him. In the meantime, Rocky had been working with the attorney general to get amnesty for Johnny. The attorney general wanted Johnny's help in building a case against... Dude Jensen. After a little poorly written love triangle stuff with Rocky and Linda Littletree...

...Johnny becomes Ghost Rider again and almost gets killed in the demolition derby while Rocky gets herself in trouble with Dude.

The next issue suddenly goes in an entirely different direction (due to the change in writers, i assume). Dude suddenly becomes a demon called Roulette...

...and starts burning down Las Vegas. Ghost Rider saves Rocky and defeats Roulette.

This was a terrible story. Mooney's art is pretty good, but the story was just awful.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The Ghost Rider is on the run from the police at the beginning of this issue, and in human form he's still hurt from injuries sustained in Ghost Rider #1, so all of these issues take place in quick succession.

References:

Ghost Rider says Satan's curse is the cause of "all this", and there's a footnote to Ghost Rider #1 (although that issue didn't actually recap his origin).

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Original Ghost Rider #12, Original Ghost Rider #13

Inbound References (1): show

Characters Appearing: Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Linda Littletrees, Mephisto, Roulette (Demon), Roxanne Simpson

Previous:
Ghost Rider #3 Up:
Main
1973 / Box 7 / EiC: Roy Thomas
Next:
Marvel Spotlight #13

Comments

This may be Doug Moench's first color comic for Marvel. Before, he was writing for their b&w mags almost from the beginning. Prior to that, he was writing for Warren(taking the stories they rejected to Skywald), and doing erotic fiction for lower-level porn mags like Sir, Knight, Gent, etc.

Posted by: Mark Drummond | August 16, 2011 1:37 PM

The strangest thing about the early Ghost Rider issues is that nobody points out that Johnny Blaze's true love--Roxanne Simpson--is his step-sister. I guess the folks at Marvel thought that motorcycle stuff appealed mostly to white trash, who wouldn't have a problem with borderline incest. This makes the Nightcrawler-Amanda Sefton thing look like nothing!

Posted by: Mark Drummond | October 9, 2011 8:33 PM

Johnny Blaze is either too busy chasing Dawson or evading the police or out cold in a hospital bed to tell anyone about Linda Littletree stranded in the desert, so it isn't explained how she quickly winds up in Las Vegas(much less why she's suddenly attracted to Blaze).

Posted by: Mark Drummond | November 4, 2016 11:40 PM

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